Editing Medicare (United States) (section)

===Quality of beneficiary services===
A 2001 study by the [[Government Accountability Office]] evaluated the quality of responses given by Medicare contractor customer service representatives to provider (physician) questions. The evaluators assembled a list of questions, which they asked during a random sampling of calls to Medicare contractors. The rate of complete, accurate information provided by Medicare customer service representatives was 15%.<ref>[http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d011141t.pdf Improvements Needed in Provider Communications and Contracting Procedures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710073514/http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d011141t.pdf |date=July 10, 2007 }}, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, September 25, 2001.</ref> Since then, steps have been taken to improve the quality of customer service given by Medicare contractors, specifically the [https://archive.today/20131115022646/http://cms.hhs.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Training/1800medicare/index.html 1-800-MEDICARE] contractor. As a result, [https://archive.today/20131115022646/http://cms.hhs.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Training/1800medicare/index.html 1-800-MEDICARE] customer service representatives (CSR) have seen an increase in training, quality assurance monitoring has significantly increased, and a customer satisfaction survey is offered to random callers.